I am a die-hard football fan. I have followed the NFL for several decades now and I really enjoy watching the games. With the Super Bowl approaching the media cover every angle of the players, coaches, fans and Super Bowl's past. However there is a story that is less glorious and much more tragic.
Those who are younger see sports figures who make enormous sums of money for playing at the professional level. It has not alway been so. There was a time when players made a living playing their chosen sport and worked regular jobs in the off season to make ends meet. Those players who saw the owners increasingly enriching themselves off of their labors worked hard to organize and many suffered for it. Many are still suffering today
This story is about football players from the pre-77 era who scrape by on small pensions and who incur enormous medical bills from the injuries they sustained over years of playing this brutal sport.
Former Oilers quarterback Dan Pastorini, 57, who had a sterling 13-year NFL career, earns just $1,202.32 a month in pension benefits.
Having been afforded no health insurance by the NFL in retirement, Pastorini must meet an annual $5,000 deductible because of pre-existing conditions that include back, neck and knee problems.
NFL Hall of Fame safety Paul Krause, who played 16 NFL seasons (1964-1979) for the Redskins and Minnesota Vikings, gets $300 a month in pension. Hall of Famer Leroy Kelly, a 10-year star running back for the Cleveland Browns (1964-1973) gets $800 a month.
Hall of Famer Joe DeLamielleure, who played 185 consecutive games during his 13 NFL seasons with the Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns, receives $800 a month. None has received NFL health insurance benefits.
The NFL built its $6 billion a year industry on the likes of Ollie Matson, Dick Butkus, Ted Hendricks and some 1,400 other pre-1977 players whose heroics are featured in grainy NFL Films productions. It was 1977 when the NFL was found to be violating antitrust laws, and benefits improved.
These are but a few of the players from that era who are being ignored by the NFL and the union, the NFLPA. Of course, these players do not hold the union in high regard and there is a lot of confusion over whether the union even represents these players.
But when the NFLPA upped pension benefits for pre-1977 players after a recent CBA agreement, Upshaw hailed the increase as unprecedented. Players were unimpressed with those benefits, many going from $100 a month to $200 a month for vested players.
"Yeah, he's got some window dressing he can put out there, but when you look at it, it's pathetic," said former Colts and Chargers (1972-1983) defensive back Bruce Laird. "Everybody is happy for what the union has done for the active players. They've done some wonderful things. If I played in 1995 and saw Gene Upshaw, I'd kiss his (backside).
"But for us? We're not sitting here with a cup in our hand asking for money. We want to be represented in the union. You can't have it both ways. You can't tell us you don't represent us and then say you do when you give us a raise that means nothing."
Inevitably, the majority of pre-1977 players voice most of their frustrations with Upshaw. They speak of not having a voice and getting conflicting, often contentious messages from him.
And Upshaw has told retired players the NFLPA does not represent them.
Labor law dictates that Upshaw must represent only active, dues-paying members of the union. But Upshaw, a Hall of Fame offensive lineman from the same generation of pre-1977 players, also has taken bows for funneling funds to former players.
Yet according to Laird, Upshaw also has told retired players, "You didn't hire me, and you can't fire me."
Another contradiction: When asked about gaining representation on the NFL's Retirement Board, a six-member committee that rules on benefit protests and disability claims, retired players have been told they indeed do have representation on the board. Their purported voice? Gene Upshaw.
"That's a joke," Laird said.
The conflicting messages seem endless, like the emotional and physical pain former players are feeling.
I have read several football histories and I know that many players suffered severe persecution for trying to start unions or for even seeking a higher salary. Lombardi reportedly traded players who came into his office to ask for a raise. Tex Schramm was notorious for being a union buster until he saw the NFL could hold out no longer. In case you are not aware of it, the long time commissioner of the NFL, Pete Rozelle was a former assistant and protege of Schramm's. He handpicked Rozelle and lobbied the other owners to put him in the job. Schramm had great influence in that era, an era when the NFL went from the smallest to the most popular pro sports league in America.
The era when they played was especially brutal too. Safety was not as big a concern and equipment offered minimal protection. In those days too, players were expected to play injured or risk losing their starting position. Stories of players being injected to help them play through pain were the norm, not the exception. This was chronicled especially well in the fictional work, North Dallas Forty by Peter Gent, a former Dallas Cowboy of the 60's era.
There are other efforts afoot to find justice and compensation for these former players. Mike Ditka and Jerry Kramer are very active in this cause.
Recently, many players have tried to tackle the issue themselves, so to speak. Former Packers great Jerry Kramer has founded the Gridiron Greats Relief Fund, initiating a series of memorabilia auctions at jerrykramer.com in hopes of helping destitute and needy former players.
Mike Ditka, a Hall of Famer and legendary Chicago Bears player and coach, has become among the most active advocates for financial relief. But sadly they have received little to no support from the league.
Ditka also established a fund, but when Ditka penned letters soliciting each NFL team for a $100,000 donation in order to begin allowing former players "dignity," the response was embarrassing. One team sent a $5,000 check. Another sent $10,000. That's it.
The NFL is a very rich league and most of the team's are very wealthy. It is tragic that these people who put their bodies on the line for the sport and who helped build the wealth have been shut out.
Of course, as a fan I recognize the absurdities in my own enjoyment of the game. It really is the closest thing to a bloodsport - modern gladiator battles, even played out in modern versions of Rome's Colosseum - that we have in America today. Many of the injuries are debilitating and some are downright horrific. I will never forget Lawrence Taylor coming down on Joe Theismann's leg on a Monday Night.
There are other tragedies too. Andre Waters, a former defensive back for the Philadelphia Eagles, committed suicide in November. The pathology report indicates that he had Alzheimer's. They concluded that this was brought on by concussions suffered playing football.
As for me, I will probably still watch the game. I do hope though that the NFL and the NFLPA do what is right for those who helped create the wealth that they now enjoy.